St Ives guided busway a triumph says no-one!

More splendid news from the deeply flawed St Ives Guided Bust-way!

This courtesy of Cambs24:

CAMBRIDGESHIRE County Council has confirmed a further delay in opening the St Ives-Cambridge guided bus link, which should have opened last April.

The likelihood of the troubled scheme's opening, even partially, this side of 2010 is practically zero.

Regular Eye readers will recall that the misguided busway, built on the route of the mothballed line from Cambridge to St Ives, has already exceeded its £116.7m budget.

Bus mad Cambridgeshire County Council has, of course, only itself to blame.

The county council decided to ignore local campaigners who had suggested that the mothballed railway could have been reopened for a mere £50m, and in far less time than it has taken contractor, BAM Nuttall, not to deliver the guided busway.

One piece of good news though.

Cambridgeshire County Council was recently named Transport Authority of the Year... at the UK Bus Awards.

Trebles all round and no shit Sherlock.

ECML delivers step improvement from day one!

PPM for the last day of National Express East Coast - 100%

PPM for the first day of nationalised East Coast Main Line - 76%

As DafT sows, so shall it reap!

ATOC January fares announcement

Hmmm... that didn't work then.

Channel 4 News: Rail companies 'mask' fares hike

Sky News: Train company chiefs have been accused of masking the full extent of the annual rail fares' increase in the New Year.

ITN News: Train company chiefs have been accused of "masking" the full extent of the annual rail fares' increase which will see passengers paying an average of 1.1 per cent more for their tickets in January.

Daily Telegraph: Rail passengers face fare rises of up to 15 per cent from January as train companies try to disguise the biggest inflation-busting increases.

The Grauniad: Atoc normally gives separate figures for the regulated and unregulated increases. But today the association would not say what the average unregulated fare increase would be, merely lumping the two figures together to make the 1.1% rise.

Daily Mail:The Association of Train Operating Companies (Atoc) was also criticised for not publishing - as it usually does - a company-by-company breakdown of the increases.

ThisisWiltshire.co.uk: Train company chiefs were accused of masking the full extent of today's announced annual rail fares' increase which will see passengers paying an average of 1.1 per cent more for their tickets in January.

Eastbourne Herald: Rail firms accused of hiding increases

Etc...

Mind you the Murdoch rags have been spectacularly quiet.

Adonis has Cameron moment on Saturday

Good to see that state owned East Coast Main Line has already overcome any rolling stock shortages.

Lord Adonis celebrated the start of nationalised East Coast Main Line by travelling to York on Saturday, aboard the 08:00 Kings Cross - Edinburgh (1S07) .

He then returned from York to London at 11:00 aboard 1E06.

Happily both journeys took place without incident.

But better to be safe than sorry.

As is evident from these two mysterious empty trains that also ran on Saturday

5Z07 08:04 Kings Cross – York
5Z06 10:55 York – Kings Cross (dep 11:02)

Eye wonders what on earth they were for?

Perhaps they were tasked with carrying the Noble Lord's official papers?

UPDATE: This from the Shunter...

The Noble Lord will soon be getting ideas above his station.

Not even Her Majesty the Queen has a 'spare' train in tow.

East Coast Main Line to Glasgow or not?

Last week the Eye prophesied that when the East Coast Main Line franchise is returned to the private sector it will not operate services beyond Edinburgh.

It appears that the Eye was wrong!

Judging by this cryptic statement from Elaine Holt picked up by The Herald on Saturday this may happen sooner rather than later...

Speaking yesterday before taking over from National Express just before midnight, Elaine Holt, chair of East Coast, said services would continue to Glasgow but they may be run by a different operator. However, she stressed that discussions over the route’s future were still active and no decision had been made.

Now what does that mean?

Fact Compiler "deeply sorry" - Shocker

The Fact Compiler today apologised to the literally millions of people, now mostly dead, who were in any way hurt or offended by the following:

The death of Sir William Huskisson, the Tay Bridge Disaster and the BR Modernisation Plan.

The Fact Compiler said he was "deeply sorry" and that he hoped the apology would help "heal the pain".

Sid and Doris Bonkers welcomed the apology saying "This is a moment - a significant moment - in the history of the railways. The recognition is vital if people are to recover."

Lord Adonis is expected to jump on the same bandwagon shortly.

Brown like that

With a bowler tip to Obnoxio

Welcome East Coast Main Line

Just thought I'd be first to say it.

At King's Cross a solitary lament...

By the wonders of MMS this from Captain Deltic...


Or, indeed, ever!

NXEC emails goodbye...

Those on the NXEC database should have received the following email by now:

From: National Express Coaches [mailto:newsletter@update.nationalexpress.com]
Sent: 13 November 2009 22:07
To: thefactcompiler@yahoo.co.uk

Subject: The Fact, thank you for travelling with National Express East Coast

If you are having trouble viewing this email, please visit this link

Marketing National Express Coaches to a franchise database should endear NatEx to Lord Adonis, DfT and the Treasury!

UPDATE: This from Carlton Browne of the FO...

I wonder if your readers noticed the “alternative” grammar in the first sentence of the round robin email below from Nat Ex.

I hope it is not indicative of what happens to standards when rail franchises get taken over by the public sector!

FCC Great Northern dispute - it's getting messy!

Fancy a job as a train driver?

Well Jobcentre plus is the place for you!.

Realise your dreams in six easy steps!

Step 1 Visit here - probably best to copy the link and post in a new browser:

Well done. You should now see this:


Step 2. Now tick 'Transport/Vehicle' and press next.

Well done, you should now see this:


Step 3 - Now tick 'Driver' and press next.

Well done. You should now see this:


Step 4. Now tick 'Train Driver' and press next.

Well done, you should now see this:


Step 5. Just press next.


Step 6. Just press next.


Well done!

Now select from any of the locations along FuCC's Great Northern route and bingo...


Here's your job! (click on the image in case its now been removed)

Someone's got to be having a larf - haven't they? (with a bowler tip to railforums.co.uk)

UPDATE: This from Charles Yerkes...

I note that the recruitment agency does work for Birse Civils - perhaps they're recruiting?

FuCC dispute - Loss of MD puts Grant in firing line

This from the Noble Lord's statement in the Upper House yesterday....

I spoke this morning to Mary Grant, the group rail manager of First Capital Connect, who assured me that every effort was being made to run as full a service as possible. I made clear to her our expectation that that would happen.

It is important that First Capital Connect continues to use all reasonable endeavours to restore the service, but this situation could be ended immediately if the concerted action on the part of the staff was ended. That step should be taken immediately.

Is First Group's lustre beginning to tarnish in Marsham Street?

Unhappy talk

Evidently Captain Sensible is unaware that there are more snakes than ladders in the railway industry .

This from thequietus posted on Tuesday...

One of these independent companies, Cotswold Rail, the owner is a punk fan. He called one of his locos Joe Strummer, another one called John Peel, and then there's mine. They invited me along on the unveiling of the name plaque, and we did it on an excursion from Gloucester to Brighton, where I live.

Sadly the problem child was damned.

Battle of the Barriers - update

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away!

This from the Daily Telegraph on the Nobel Lord's plans for state owned East Coast Main Line...

...Withdrawal of the planned gating of York station in order to maintain the existing through access for non-passengers, while accelerating the completion of gating at King's Cross to deter fare-dodgers.

A sort of glass half full moment.

UPDATE: This from Paul Scott...

Er... are you expecting the SofS to win some sort of international prize for all this - 'Nobel' Lord?

The Fact Compiler apologises. A case of posting in haste and repenting at leisure.

UPDATE: This from King Henry...

Does the noble Lord realise that by citing the pedestrian route across York Station as his reason for abandoning gating he has destroyed EMT's case at Sheffield ?

UPDATE: This from a Mr Mallins...

The Good Lord has indeed shafted EMT over Sheffield, where with over 1100 objections to their application for Listed Building Consent, the City must be poised to refuse it.

By citing through access as the reason (not something that planners can consider for Listed Building applications) it must now be accepted that barriers are not a good idea elsewhere too.

Perhaps EMT should be removing their nonsensical scheme at Derby which is an unnecessary obstacle to access across the station, in similar circumstances to York and Sheffield. The place is often full of students trying to get to and from the college on the old Loco Works site.

And as for King's Cross, they will be an ugly and dysfunctional feature of a "World Class" station, maximum inconvenience to boarding passengers and chaos when they alight - take a look at EMT's St Pancras scheme next door.

DafT profligacy knows no bounds

This shameless answer to a PQ from Moley

Written answers and statements, 10 November 2009

Chris Mole (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport; Ipswich, Labour)

There have been a very small number of instances during the last 12 months where tendering exercises have been cancelled prior to the award of the contract and thereby costs have been incurred with no contract awarded. For the Department for Transport, this would normally amount to the effort expended on the procurement exercise before its cancellation. The precise number and costs involved are not recorded.

The occasion where the Department has incurred nugatory costs was for the procurement of a fleet of new build diesel rolling stock which ceased in July, as it was superseded by the Government's announcement on rail electrification. The costs incurred for the use of external advisors was £1.6 million.

The Department has not reimbursed any supplier during the last 12 months for costs that they have incurred as a result of tendering for any contract advertised by the Department where the award process for that contract was subsequently cancelled.

Why for that amount you could have travelled with Arriva Cross Country from Newquay to Fort William almost 1,597 times!

UPDATE: This from Tom West...

So, the Department considers £1.6milllion to be 'nugatory' - a word which Google says means "of little or no importance; trifling, worthless".

Nice to see that it takes more than seven figures to be financially significant in the Department's eyes.

Watch Adonis! - Official

For the first time in living memory a Transport Secretary has won an award!

And not just any award, but one of the coveted Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year Awards which were presented by Mayor BoJo this afternoon.

So stand up Lord Adonis the High Speed Evangelist... you are the "Minister to Watch"!

NR survey - money for old rope

Exciting news from Network Rail!

Network Rail today launched the first ever piece of passenger research targeting stations, as it unveiled its plans to improve thousands of stations across the country in a five year, £3.25bn, programme of investment.

As we know from Coachgate the infrastructure company is keen to save money.

So rather than have NR spend all that lolly on a survey, Eye has the answers to what passengers want from stations here - for free!

Trains. On time. With enough seats. End of.

Today's FuCC disruption

This from Longrider...

It is easy to simply blame the unions... but it takes two to make a dispute and if the unions are to blame for causing the disruption, the employer is to blame for giving them such an easy target.

Words of wisdom and worth a read.

Bob Crow rock star?

Telegrammed by the Archer
Perhaps Eye readers would like to join me in congratulating Bob Crow on his latest achievement.

Sharp suited Bob makes a guest appearance on the track 'Sweet Revolution' on the new Alabama 3 CD.

Whilst this is all very rock and roll perhaps Bob may want to distance himself from some of the bands other activities ('They party like b*stards' - Time Out).

And in particular their vocal support for the 'Free Ronnie Biggs' campaign.

The success of which caused considerable anger in the railway community.

As former Chief Operating Officer Peter Rayner said:

"One can't forget and one has to be clear that driver Mills... died as a result of injuries from criminals.

"Driver Mills was a man who stood against those criminals and said he wouldn't move his train with its valuable cargo.

"Driver Mills paid the penalty in that. So my feeling is one of concern that the perpetrators have been treated as folk heroes rather than the criminals that we on the railway believe them to be."

Indeed.

UPDATE: This from NR's Internet Rapid Rebuttal Unit...

Rather unusually, for someone in the rail business I know the Alabama 3 much better than I know Bob Crow.

The Alabama 3 are fellow Brixtonians and I am good pals with the band's drummer, Sir Eddie Real.

The link between the band and the RMT derives from that some (though not all) band members performed at this year's RMT-organised celebration (if that is the right word) of the 50th anniversary of the Cuban revolution.



The Alabama 3's relationship with the Free Ronnie Biggs campaign is entirely separate and personal.

One of the members of the band, Nick Reynolds, is the son of Bruce - one of Ronnie's co-conspirators, see here.

Anyway, all I'll say is whatever you think of the band's views they make great music. I recommend the album 'Exile on Coldharbour Lane'. Sample their tunes here.

UPDATE: This from John B...

Driver Mills died of leukemia.

That isn't, ever, caused by being bashed round the head, any more than being punched in the chest causes lung cancer.

Not sure where the weird urban myth that the robbery was a factor in his death comes from, but it's certainly not true...

Dean Finch to NatEx?

This from the Daily Telegraph...

Dean Finch, the boss of London Underground maintenance company Tube Lines, has emerged as a leading contender to be the new chief executive of National Express.

That was quick.

Dean only joined the beleaguered Underground contractor in June of this year.

Perhaps a case of frying pan to fire?